Group leader resources
What we do that a church cannot do alone
One job: take your church to the places of the Bible, bring everyone home again, and keep the Scripture at the center of every day.
A church can book its own flights and hotels. What it cannot easily do is build an itinerary around the Bible, price it as one package, register and collect from fifty travelers, and put someone on the coach who solves problems before the pastor hears about them. That is the work we do every day.
Here is what that looks like, and what to ask any company before you choose one.
Every expedition starts from a route we know well and is then shaped around your group. If your church wants to worship at the Garden Tomb, be baptized in the Jordan, read Acts 17 on Mars Hill, or travel at a pace that works for older travelers, we build it that way.
You approve the itinerary before anything is booked, and it stays yours. The days, the pace and the teaching moments are planned with you, not handed to you.
Not a phone number in another time zone. A Christian Expedition tour director is with your group from arrival to departure, working with the hotel, the driver and the licensed local guides, and dealing with the delayed bag or the traveler who needs a doctor.
Behind the tour director is our 24/7 travel emergency line, (877) 234-3002 ext. 9, for any traveler abroad with a travel-related emergency. If something goes wrong, it is ours to solve, not yours.
Group air, hotels, coaches, guides, meals and entrance fees are contracted by Christian Expedition, so one price covers the expedition. Each traveler registers and pays us directly.
No deposit, no financial guarantee, and no invoice if the group comes in under target. The pastor travels free, and that place is earned by the group you bring: it comes from our suppliers rather than from what your travelers pay. How the free place works.
If the group does not reach its minimum, final payments are never collected and deposits are returned. What happens if a group does not fill.
Four teams carry an expedition from the first conversation to the flight home: an expedition sales team that helps you build the group, a media team that produces your flyer and trip page, a travel support team that answers your travelers, and an operations team that handles air contracts, rooming lists and the call at 2am when a flight cancels.
We have English and Spanish speaking teams, so a Spanish speaking congregation is served in its own language from the first call. Meet the team.
We travel with churches of every size, from a congregation’s first trip to churches that go with us every year, along with ministries, Christian schools and Bible teachers whose audiences travel with them. Our current expeditions show who is traveling now, with real itineraries and prices.
You can also read what pastors and travelers say about traveling with us.
Ask who builds the itinerary and whether you approve it. With Christian Expedition the route is built with you around the Scripture you want to read on site, and nothing is booked until you sign off on it.
A Christian Expedition tour director travels with the group from arrival to departure, with licensed local guides at each site and 24/7 emergency support behind them. Ask any company whether the person who answers when something goes wrong is on the coach or in an office several time zones away.
Ask who carries that risk. With Christian Expedition, if the group does not reach its minimum, final payments are never collected and deposits are returned. The pastor signs no financial guarantee and receives no invoice for the shortfall.
Each traveler registers and pays Christian Expedition directly, so no money passes through the church. A $450 deposit is due at registration, $200 of it non-refundable, with the balance 90 days before departure. Ask any company whether the church is expected to collect, hold or reconcile payments.
We do, at (877) 234-3002 ext. 9. Ask for the number before you sign anything, and ask whether it reaches a person or a voicemail box.
Tell us roughly where you want to go, when, and how many of you there might be. We will come back with an itinerary and a full price, with no deposit and no commitment until the plan is right.